HFMA10253U Scandinavian Film & TV
Elective

Scandinavia is well known internationally for its welfare
society, and part of this welfare society is a very developed
cultural policy based on both the free market and public support.
Scandinavia has a strong film and television culture with
institutions and traditions created to secure creative diversity
for both national, Scandinavian and global audiences. In many ways
Scandinavian film and television is a global cultural brand,
connected with and exporting some of the cultural and social values
connected to a liberal and progressive welfare society. Dating back
to the silent cinema era and through the birth of a modern film and
television culture after 1945 Scandinavia has contributed
significantly to our global cultural heritage.

This course in Scandinavian Film and Television deals with the
social, institutional and cultural background of film and
television in Scandinavia and in a broader European and global
context. The course will offer a deeper understanding of the
creative forces behind film and television, of how Scandinavian
society and culture has influenced the production. The course will
deal with the co-production in Scandinavia and the role of
Scandinavian film and television internationally. Theoretically the
course will deal with national and global cinema, with film and
media sociology, with genre and auteur theory and with film and
media policy.

The course will also deal with some of the most important film
directors and film and television genres and the way they have
reflected and influenced our understanding of Scandinavia and the
image of Scandinavian culture and society abroad. From Carl Th.
Dreyer’s complex historical and religious dramas, Ingmar Bergman’s
symbolic and psychological films to the modern cinema of Lars von
Trier, Aki Kaurismäki, Lukas Moodyson and Bent Hamer - all
important Scandinavian names in a broader European art cinema
tradition. The course will deal with typical examples of
other and more popular genres in Scandinavian cinema and modern,
Scandinavian television drama.